Arizona Man Kills Mountain Lion to Protect Pet Dog from Animal Attack

A man and his dog are safe after a dangerous encounter with a mountain lion.

On May 25, around 10 p.m., in Buckeye — about 30 miles west of Phoenix, Arizona — the man was walking his dog in a residential area called Verrado when a mountain lion approached the pair and attacked them, the Arizona Game and Fish Department told PEOPLE in a statement.

The “brief altercation” did not result in serious injuries for the canine, with the man successfully “kicking the lion off his dog,” the department’s statement read. Yet, the altercation didn’t deter the predator, because the mountain lion doubled back, per the statement, following the man and dog as they returned home.

The mountain lion approached the duo again, but this time, the man fatally shot the big cat. The killing was an act of self-defense, the statement read. The state’s wildlife management agency picked up and transported the dead mountain lion without further incident.

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Mountain lion and human encounters are rare, but the spread of urban and suburban sprawl is leading to increased run-ins as the big cats lose their natural habitat. The University of Arizona estimated that roughly 2,500 to 3,000 wild mountain lions are living in the state.

“If you encounter a lion, do not run. Face the lion and slowly back away, leaving an escape route, ” the university said in a statement, per The Island Packet. “You should also try to appear larger by raising your arms over your head. You may also throw rocks and sticks as long as you can avoid crouching down.”

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Another dog owner recently went to extreme lengths to protect her pup. Kim Spencer of Tampa, Florida, was on an evening walk with her dog Kona when an alligator emerged from a lake nearby with its sights set on the pet.

While the alligator got Kona’s head in its jaws, Spencer mobilized and jumped on the back of the gator, effectively wrangling the reptile.

“I stopped thinking and just dove on it, jumped on it and straddled it, as lady-like as that is, and was trying to pry its jaws open,” she said.

Kona survived the attack thanks to Spencer, leaving the altercation with several deep bite wounds that required stitches.